Blog

Leading Photo Site First to Offer Linked Tagging – Enhances Image Search and Discovery

PALO ALTO, Calif., November 8, 2007 – Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com), one of the Web’s most popular hubs for managing personal media, today launched a new breed of photo tagging, giving users the unique ability to share tagged and linked photos across social networks and the Web. Photobucket tagging enables users to tag up to 20 names and links within a single photo, before sharing them online by posting them on personal profile pages, blogs and other sites.

When tagged photos are displayed on Photobucket, embedded onto other sites, or shared by email, viewers of those photos can see the tags, click on links, and also find more images with the same tags on Photobucket’s site. For example, a photo of a school or college group can link each person to individual social network profiles. Alternatively, a photo of landscapes or travel scenes could link to relevant Wikipedia pages or travelogues, giving viewers added insight into the photo’s subject matter.

Posting Tagged Photos on Other SitesOne of the most innovative aspects of Photobucket’s tagging is the ability to embed tagged photos on other sites. If a photo has been tagged, the tagged links travel with the photo, making it a dynamic, social piece of digital media on any Web site. When someone else views the tagged photo on Photobucket, or another Flash-enabled site, they can hover over elements of the photo to see the link and the tag, or simply click on a person or item in the photo and jump to the associated link.

Sharing Tagged Images by EmailUsers can create an instant photo-sharing community by importing email contacts from their accounts. If friends are tagged in a photo, they will immediately receive an email from that Photobucket user, notifying them that they’ve been tagged in a photo.

Searching for Tags on PhotobucketThe introduction of tagging also enhances search capabilities on Photobucket’s site and across the Web. People conduct millions of searches per day of Photobucket content on the site itself and through external search engines, such as Google. Combined with existing photo titles and descriptions, the links and labels in tags make it easier to search Photobucket’s billions of images.

“Our users enjoy spending time on the site, and we’ve always focused on making digital media sharing easy and fun. Tagging is a way for them to tell the story behind all their shots, so it’s actually a great new way to communicate with photos,” said Alex Welch, president of Photobucket. “Photobucket was the first Web site to allow users to embed digital media on social networking sites, and the introduction of tagging with embedded links takes Web photo sharing to a whole new level.”

Other Feature Enhancements on PhotobucketIn addition to tagging, Photobucket is also rolling out other feature enhancements to its site, including: enhanced titles and descriptions for all media stored on the site; support for high-resolution photos for Photobucket Pro users; new slideshow styles and themes designed by Flektor (http://www.flektor.com) and the ability to link any Photobucket album to the owner’s MySpace profile.

About PhotobucketPhotobucket is one of the Web’s most popular hubs for managing media. Photobucket’s users upload, link to, share and search for billions of personal photos, graphics, and videos every day. The company was founded in 2003 and acquired by Fox Interactive Media, Inc., a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS), in July 2007. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colo. with offices in Palo Alto, Calif., and is available online at http://www.photobucket.com/